
Book - f 44 



THE 

NEW CRISIS, 



OR, 



GRAND APPEAL TO THE NATION, 



FOR J^' <^ / 



ITS DECISION 

ON THIS 

MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION, 

Are happiness and freedom consistent with fo- 
reign commerce at all events, or are they not? 

AND LIKEWISE ON THE 

NECESSITY OR NON-NEQESSITY 

OF 

A WAR. 

/ 

BY PERICLES. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 



1809. 



J 3 Ip 



THE Author of the following pages has been in the 
habit, for years, of thinking occasionally on the arguments de- 
bated on this question. But, finding it impossible to satisfy 
himself, or to come to a positive conclusion, by mere mental or 
verbal reasonings, he sat down to arrange them on paper, with 
a mind free from all bias; and to give his uncontrolled assent 
to that side, which should appear to be the most reasonable and 
conclusive. He knew it to be a question on which " much might 
be said on both sides :*' and for this purpose he grappled unre- 
strained all the arguments within the compass of his memory, 
that might make for either side. By this means he has fully 
satisfied himself: and the same curiosity, which prompted this 
method of arrangement, in order to produce individual convic- 
tion, now induces him to bring the piece before the public, in 
order to find whether he can have the suffrage of the nation on 
his side. 



THE 



NEW CRISIS, 



ALL theories are vain, that bewilder the 
reason of man ; and all regulations pernicious, that 
tend to abridge his happiness. All happiness is 
vain, that is pursued by dishonest means ; and all 
security unstable, that is not fortified by justice. 

If the above positions be true (and to any one 
acquainted with the meaning of the terms by which 
they are established, they will appear evident), 
how are we to act as a nation, as a government 
founded on reasonable principles, consistent with 
the above data, and yet preserve our freedom and 
happiness unbroken? 

Or, whether happiness and freedom of trade.be 
not necessarily allied; — that the former may be 
enjoyed without the assistance of the latter, and the 
latter be secured without the blessing of the former. 



4 

On these two positions, I mean to found the ar- 
gunients of the following inquiry ; as they concern 
the discussion of this most important question, 
Arc happiness and freedom consistent 'with foreign 
commerce^ at all ei^ents ; or are they not? — It will 
be fhe business of A, on this subject to maintain 
that they are not; and of ^. to maintain that are. 

In the first place, we cannot go a step, in the 
fairness of this inquiry, unless we throw off all our 
prejudices, prepossessions, and erroneous habits, at 
the threshold; and allow our minds to be as clear 
as blank paper for the reception of truth. Who- 
ever views it through the optics of party, is sure to 
be misled; to draw false inferences from it, or to 
condemn it in toto, as metaphysical jargon. And 
to those, to whom the style and manner of argument- 
ation may be new, a slight perusal will be worse 
than no perusal. 

Having explained this much, it will be unneces- 
sary to say more; and to have said less, would not 
have been sufficient to clear the ground for the 
^entrance of the subject. 

A. Americans, the question is proposed, and its 
meaning and import cleared of all ambiguities. 
It is my office, as an impartial inquirer after truth, 
to endeavour to develope it clear and unmixed for 
its own sake ; and this I hope to be enabled to do, 
to my own satisfaction, leaving the conclusion and 
practical utility of my maxims to the accumulated 
decision of your own judgments. Ye know what 



je have been ; y^ may calculate probably what 
Y^ may* besf- h\M certainty is denied to the wisest 
of lO/Si.! : 1 r 

; Let us then, as much as in us lies, endeavour to 
make probability more certain^ by listening calmly 
and dispassionately, imwarped by party interests 
and considerations, to those arguments (whose 
direct aim is national happiness), w^hich have a 
tendency to promote this desirable end. We all 
of us naturally love oursehes; we generally love 
our wives and children, our relations, friends, 
and. connections ; %\se should all lonse our country^ 
our common parent and foster-mother. What 
considerations, then, so dear to us, as her peace 
and happiness, so intimately connected and inter« 
woven with those of her children, and her recipro* 
cal influence on that of every individual ? 

Would the advocates for foreign commerce at all 
hazards be mad enough to risk the unhaj)py expe- 
dient of 'di forced trade ^ as believing, " that no other 
remedy is left us (now that we are near our wit's end 
in negociation) between that and starvation ; or at 
least of slow and lingering misery, living without 
object, without animation, without industry to fill 
up the dread vacuity of life, and consequently with* 
out reward?" Let not such flowery and superfi^ 
cial arguments impose upon our judgments. They 
are ever the weapons of those whose object is luxu- 
ry, not contentment; outward grandeur, but w:ant- 
ing the stability of inward comfort. We are never 



in such danger of being deceived, as when the pas- 
sions, or appetites, are allied in our cause. Then 
we are almost involuntarily driven to prefer tempo- 
rary and present gratification, to that which is in its 
nature both solid and permanent. 

I grant, as a liberal antagonist, that I feel for your 
situation, in consideration of what you ha^oe enjoyed* 
You are, or at least to all appearance nvill be, ex- 
actly in the situation of a person, who, for many 
years, has enjoyed a state of ease, wealth, and pros- 
perity; and whom indulgence and a luxury of 
abundance have so pampered, that he has been 
accustomed to deny himself no gratification of plea- 
sure or amusement, consistent with his fortune, and 
the love of his country; and who, by this usage, 
has become delicately averse to every thing that 
may have a tendency to interrupt the round of his 
accustomed enjoyments, even though his health 
should be the inevitable forfeit of a continuance in 
them. I grant, therefore, that it will be a business 
of some energy, to exert that fortitude, necessary 
to enable you to make the best of your situation; 
and to turn your capitals into those channels, which 
though, perhaps, not so speedily lucrative, are at- 
tended with less risk, and more stable advantage, 
both to the individual and the community. 

* But why,' you will exclaim, * ought we to be 
driven to this alternative ? According, Mr. J, to 
your own system of morals, you will, perhaps, say, 
after all the sacrifices that we may make, that there 



9 

the laws of nations, which have reprnlated people in 
all ag^s, who have submitttd to morality as a stancl- 
ardv will be any longer a bulwark to you, against 
the insiduous encroachments of those nations, with 
whom we are at variance. They have both esta- 
bliiiheii their creed, that those principles are no 
longer necessary, or bindin|>;. Policy, and expe- 
diency, are the order of the day with them. Justice 
is but a name : agreeable, indeed, to the imagi- 
nation and the ear, from venerable descent; but not 
practicable in the present state of politics. 

With respect to France, these maxims are of no 
new date. They were adopted during the time of 
her old school politics^ by one of her most popular 
ministers of state ; and now more successfully, be- 
cause still more cuniiingly and knowingly, under- 
stood and practised by Talleyrand. Great Britain, 
likewise, either from choice, or what they call ex- 
pediency, has adopted the same maxims into her 
school. How long since, is not exactly known ; 
because it has never, till very recently, been gene- 
rally believed, much less acknowledged. 

That she was not the inventor of this diabolical 
system of morals, I have the charity to believe. 
Nor, indeed, has many of her most bitter enemies 
suffered themselves to harbour such an unprincipled 
suspicion. But now, when conviction flashes upon 
us like the glare of day, no one, not despicably sold 
to her interest, or perversely stubborn in wrong, 
can withhold his conviction of the truth. 



10 

That this pernicious maxim, from its late explo- 
sion upon our astonished senses, has been but lately 
received into favour with them, we have no reason 
to believe. It has been like a suspicious and dan- 
gerous guest at the banquet, for a considerable time, 
whom they were ashamed openly to acknowledge, 
but whom they have caressed and encouraged, as 
an exotic of promising invention, though of shame- 
ful birth and lawless principles. 

Now, though I have not proved, that no repara- 
tion, or accommodation vjhatever, can be had by the 
powers who cherish such principles ; yet, cer- 
tainly, it is self-evident, from the facts above stated, 
that, no honest, lawful, honourable, or lasting ac- 
commodation, can be reasonably hoped, or expect- 
ed, from either power. What then is your resource, 
if you are determined to run in the track of your old 
habits, at all hazards ^ but war ? What sort of 
warfare? for nobody is Quixotic enough to attempt 
fighting us on our own ground. ** War, — on that 
element, which their principles teaches them to 
usurp, — on the great highway of the world, which 
we are determined shall be free for us to move in, 
or we perish in the conflict." 

And perish you would, certainly, to all intents 
and purposes. Feeble mortal ! dost think by 
blowing to swelt the frog to the size of Leviathan I 
and if you were, she could not blow away his ships. 
It is a poor recourse, to swell and swagger, how just 
soever our cause maybe, when we want the power. 



7 

is no virtue in our proceedings. We were, before, 
a restless set of unprincipled adventurers; '* the 
most worthless part of the community;" and 
now only, and not till now, when hard necessity 
drives us, we begin to make the best we can of 
the savings of a dangerous and now forbidden 
traffic' 

There is not, my fellow reasoners, such a denun- 
ciation in the whole system of my morals, nor in- 
deed in that of any pure system in the universe, as 
to say, that ' there is no virtue to be exercised when 
necessity presses ! ' If the strong exercise of virtue 
be at any time necessary, it is when public calami- 
ty, of any kind, demands an energetic and painful 
exercise of it. In prosperous times, it is frequent- 
ly our interest to be so ; and it is at all times con- 
sistent with our ease to be virtuous, except when 
occasions like the present call for a greater quantity 
to be crowded in a smaller space, than the general 
current of life requires. Therefore, far from not 
earning that applause, which is, or at least ought 
ever to be, the consequence of virtuous sacrifices ; 
you will, undoubtedly, be entided to no ordinary 
share. 

But you will again object, * What! are we to 
have no reward but applause? the empty ebulli- 
tions of a changing and fickle populace? or even 
the more solid approbation of legislators, and of 
men at ease in their fortunes and possessions ? — 
men who have acquired their riches by the slow 



8 

increase of time, or possessed them by hereditary 
inheritance; who have never been trained to the 
bustle of life, or habituated to the restlessness of 
business; men in whom ambition would be a crime? 
— Such approbation can neither fill our houses, nor 
replenish our stores.' 

Your objection would be unanswerable, if yoi 
were asked to make such a sacrifice at the shrine o** 
reason, or for the sake of politics, or principle, or ever 
for the peace and quiet of your country. Such sa- 
crifices we do not readily expect, from men trained 
up in your habits. We ask it, not only because it 
is expedient, but because it has now become abso- 
lutely necessary to your preservation, as men 
and citizens. I hope to prove, to your convict wn, 
if not to your satisfaction, that by no means that 
<* God and Nature have put in our power," are we 
able to remove this alternative, without forfeiting 
all claim to wisdom as a government, or civiliza- 
tion as a people ; without becoming, not only more 
unjust, tyrannical, overbearing, and revengeful, 
than the nations by whom we are injured and con- 
trolled, but even of degrading ourselves to a nation 
of piratical barbarians. 

In the first place, can you expect to oppose this 
alternative by any other means than war ? Depend 
upon it, you will ultimately find negociation to be 
fruitless. You need be no longer imposed on, or 
lulled into security, or even hope, that those ancient 
and venerable names, justice and the principles of 



11 

If the ardour of our passions would but allow us to 
reflect, and turn our thoughts inward, we would 
find, though it may be a painful conviction to some, 
that we are but as the infant in the cradle^ both with 
respect to men and money ^ compared to that colos- 
sal power, under whose particular influence we 
writhe. 

What proceeding, then, is left, but to turn all 
our strength and attention inw^ard on ourselves, 
and try what resources are to be found within the 
limits of our mother territory ? Let us disdain to 
go a roving, in pursuit of illicit profit, when so 
much oflfers to the ingenious and patriotic mind, to 
be done at home. Ye know not the resources yc 
possess at home. Your strength has never 3^et 
been directed that way. Ye confess your country 
to be a land flowing with milk and honey, and all 
the necessaries, and many of the comforts, of life. 
It is so. The most vacant or stupid stranger, that 
ever travelled in it, cannot help perceiving and con- 
fessing this truth. 

If, then, ye are possessed of so many natural and 
obvious blessings ; what treasures and sources of 
wealth may not be opened, by the accumulated force 
of ingenuity and scientific knowledge, applied to the 
useful arts! such as the improvement of agricul- 
ture and husbandry, as it is managed by the people 
in England ; to the encouragement and promo- 
tion of manufactures, of machinery, of mineralogy, 
and whatever may tend to make us rich within 

B 



12 

ourselves, provident towards our families; disdain- 
ing foreign superfluities, and contented with our 
condition. 

B, It is with considerable diffidence, mv fellow, 
citizens, that I enter the lists with this formidable A, 
By a system of logic, not in common iise^ he has en- 
deavoured to hem me in, and abridge my answers, 
by raising or anticipating objections, which he 
might suppose I would, in the course of my argu- 
ments, urge; and then rubbing them away with a 
dexterous sweep of the brush that laid them on. 
But be assured, my brethren, no mode or figure of 
speech, or manner of reasoning, that does not ap- 
pear to me conclusive and imanswerabie, shall deter 
me from exerting what little abilities I may possess, 
in disentangling such an important question^ from 
all attempts of complex reasoners and subtle re- 
finers; who would obscure, by dint of sophistry, your 
dearest and most important interests — That happi- 
ness and freedom are alone consistent with free 
trade; — and that, v/ithout it, we can be neither 
happy nor free. 

Having then stated the grounds on which I mean 
to rest the fabric of my argument, and recalled to 
your memory the side of the question on which I 
act, I will, without hesitation, repair to the field of 
contention, and parry my antagonist's thrusts, ar- 
ticle by article : for any other mode of defence 
would stand at too great distance from the close 
armour which he wears. 



13 

Article first, begins, * we all naturally love our- 
selves,' — self-evident. * We £>;enerally love our 
wives, children, relations, Sec' — equally evident. 
* We should all love our country ; what consider- 
ations so dear,' &c. 

Does A. imply from these axioms, that we, the 
advocates for commerce, and free trade at all 
hazards, are not impressed with an equal love for 
our country with those who maintain the opposite 
opinion ? I believe no impartial person (who is 
not warped by theories and systems), in any degree 
acquainted with the history of nations, their pro- 
gress, civilization, refinement, and ultimate happi- 
ness, will assert such a paradox, as that com- 
TTiercial men are less lovers of their country, than 
agriculturalists, artists, or mechanics; but demon- 
strably more beneficial in promoting her grandeur 
.and happiness. 

If it is true of them, respecting the latter, it can- 
not, as a natural antecedent, be certain respecting 
the former. For who, I would ask, can have 
stronger motives and connections, to implant this 
amor patrice in his mind, than he, whose pride 
and profit, and consequent influence in society, all 
tend, by their reciprocal force, to cement the bonds 
of affection; to encourage him to labour for its hap- 
piness and prosperity; and to estimate it as a jewel 
above all foreign price, while it continues to foster 
and encourage those pursuits which attach him to 
the soil, in preference to any other ? Farther than 



14 

this preference, which is obviously built upon a su- 
periority (real or imaginary) of situation, climate, 
government, connections, or local comforts, no 
man of common understanding can prefer one 
place, or country, to another. Patriotism itself, 
without these blessings implied, is but the shadow 
of a dream. 

Second article, ' Would the advocates for fo- 
reign commerce at all hazards be mad enough to 
risk the unhappy expedient of 2i forced trade, as be- 
lieving, that no other remedy is left us (now that 
we are near our wit's end with negociation),' &c. 
I would be glad to know what the all hazards of 
A. means. He has employed the expression as the 
meaning of his opponents; but surely he must have 
a peculiar sense of his own attached to it ; for such 
a vague undefined expression would not be the 
motto of any body of men, whose standing in society 
enabled them to make choice of a better. *' All 
hazards!" If the object were all hazard, or risky 
which, according to etymology and grammatical 
resolution, are substantives synonimous in mean- 
ing; it would in 'cery deed be a Quixotic undertak- 
ing. It would, indeed, be puffing up the frog with 
wind, that he rnay appear a formidable antagonist 
for the whaie. But, with your leave, sir, I will 
avail myself of the liberty of speech, to place the 
expressions of those, whom you suppose my adher- 
ents, to dieir proper meaning, by the proper choice 
of words. Therefore, the sentence shall stand 



15 

thus: — Free trade, at all e'uents. And by this 
meanings and by no other ^ can I pretend to overturn 
your position. 

Having thus cleared the ground of all the rub- 
bish of njoords^ that obstruct the passage of truth ; I 
will enter with more freedom into the pith of those 
arguments, which you have, with metaphysical 
pride^ thrown in my way. 

You seem, with crocodile tears, to deplore our 
situation, and to sigh witii *' sad civiliry,'» from a 
consideration of the comforts iu<? ha^'ce enjoyed^ that 
we should be reduced to this sad alternative. You 
degrade us by one blo%v from the proud conscious- 
ness of freemen ; and say, that, considering our 
habits of life, you do not expect from us such ex- 
traordinary sacrifices. You ask it only * because it 
is expedient, and as it has now become absolutely 
necessary to us, as men and as citizens.' 

Strange situation! Deplorable dilemma for an 
American to be placed! What, man! have you, by 
the wi^sdom of metaphysical knowledge, and scho- 
lastic learning, acquired that glorious distinction 
called philosophical apathy ; that not a passion, 
nerve, or fibre, of your frame vibrates widi indig- 
nation and resentful courage, at tlie propagation of, 
and submission to, such tame and slavish proceed- 
ings ? You may hug yourself on the omnipotence 
of such passive ivisdom. But, for nie or mine, I 
would rather, if I had my choice, be tl.e dung-horw, 
than such a man as von. 



16 

Attain, * you hope to prove to our coffviction. if 
not to our satis/action, that, by no '' means that 
God and nature" have put in our power, are we able 
to remove this alternative; without losing all claim 
to wisdom as a government, or civilization as a 
people; and even of degrading ourselves to a na- 
tion of piratical barbarians,^ 

Strange man ! that you will not allow us to de- 
fend ourselves by the same weapons by which we are 
attacked ! If ever there was a just pretence for war 
in the world, it must be this: — to repel injustice 
and aggression by the same means. Reason, jus- 
tice, right, are, by your own exposition, but splendid 
words with them. They weigh no more than the 
dust in the balance, for our cause. What alterna- 
tive, then, we exclaim, (to make use of your own 
expression) is left us but war — retaliation ? And 
what mode of retaliation can we adopt, (since ' no 
nation is Quixotic enough to fight us on our own 
ground,') but the same by which we are aggrieved ; 
retaliation on that element, the usurpers of which, 
if we cannot conquer, we may at least be able to 
annoy ; whom we may, by a proper exertion of 
our energy and resources, be able, in some degree, 
to humble, by a rivals bip of trade; and to drive 
that trade, by the strength of governmental protec- 
tion, in spite of all opposition ? 

How, you will ask, can this be done? I will tell 
you, as well as my poor abilities enable; though, 
perhaps, I may not be able to season the dish of my 



17 

reasonings with such metaphysical stamina, as may, 
by its poignancy, mount up to the altitude of your 
satisfaction. But that I shall be able, according to 
the laws of nature and common sense (if you have 
not already, by the mere " cunning of words," re- 
fined away that mortal quality) to produce conmc- 
lion, I cannot, as a sensible and thinking creature, 
doubt its operation on you. 

In the first place, then, I would, or we would, if 
the personal pronoun / should sound too consequen- 
tial, or egotistical, in your metaphysical ears, or the 
government should, pass a law, to allow no vessel or 
vessels to sail from any port in the United States, 
without a sufficient convoy, to accompany and pro- 
tect them. Let the trade be regulated according 
to iaiv; and let every trader give notice, in the pub- 
lic prints, to what place he intends to make his 
shipments ; what sort of cargo he has shipped ; 
and that he has conformed to the regulations of law 
in every respect ; and then, at the time appointed 
for the fleet to sail, he must be ready to join it, or 
remain in port. 

Do you think, that, in the plenitude of your wis- 
dom and foresight, this scheme would prove abor- 
tive ? and that it would only (to use your own si- 
mile) be trying to swell the frog to the size of Levi- 
athan ? It may m your microscopic judgment, appear 
so ; but to those who trust in the evidence of their 
senses and experience, it would, if not effectual, be 
the best that can be done. 



18 

But if you are not satisfied ; or, according to your 
hypothetical habits, you may require more verbal 
demonstration of the possibility, or practicability, 
of this mode oS. forced trade ^ you shall be indulged 
to very plenitude, with a description of the whole 
process. 

Every merchant vessel, then, shall be armed with 
men and metal, equal to its bulk ; and thus equip- 
ped and guarded, it will be strange, if a fleet of, per- 
haps, seventy ships, with a proper convoy, could 
not be able to force a passage on the broad seas ; 
and, even if attacked, to defend and preserve the 
valuable part of it, from capture or destruction. 
Is this scheme ridiculous? or is not practicable? 
or would it be all hazard^ without the least proba- 
bility of success or advantage ? Would it not, 
though even mixed v/ith doubt, be superior to a 
state of inertness and supine indifference ; to a 
state of philosophic apathy and passiveness, that 
submits, without resistance, '* to every encroach- 
ment of the violent and assuming;" wraps itself 
up in its own wisdom, contented with the barren- 
ness of its situation; believing that no place, situa- 
tion, or condition, of life, is preferable to another; 
that all actions are iniioluntary ; that man is govern- 
ed by a fatal necessity^ to which even superior be- 
ings are subject ; and, that passive obedience and 
non-resistance form the law of our lives ? Such a 
baseless vision may form the fabric o{ your life^ and 
those o^ your school ; but, for mc or mine (I repeat 



19 

it again) I would rather be something less than man, 
than a man of such belief. 

Such a belief can neiiher be reconciled to our 
nature as sensitive beins^s, nor to our understand- 
ing as christians. For, as a wise and learned 
divine* says, *' That passive tameness which sub- 
mits, without opposition, to every encroachment of 
the violent and assuming, forms no part of chris- 
tian duty; but, on the contrary, is destructive of 
general happiness and order." 

This is the very point I wished to attain in my 
argument; directly in point to the side of the ques. 
tion I have adopted, and conclusive, both in res- 
pect to its weight as a maxim, and its authority as 
emanating from the mind of one of the greatest and 
the best of men. — Mark it again, *'my lad;" for 
*' a greater than I is here:" — " Destructive' of ge- 
neral happiness and order." *' What is destruc- 
tive?" Such passive tameness as jo«, and those of 
your school possess, or pretend to possess; and lull 
your consciences asleep, by dignifying such base- 
ness, with the venerable name of pure philosophy ! 
How long (must I again repeat) shall we continue 
to be awed by the mere ''cunning of words;" 
and allow ourselves to be led by the silken strings 
of theories and fine-spun systems, to the exclusion 
of our natural senses, feelings, and t\en passions ; 
which, under proper regulation, ever %vere, and ever 
ivill be, our truest guides to happiness ? 

" Blair. 



20 

But enough of this; for I think I have answered 
all your objections, that are in any degree entitled 
to an answer ; except your last, which, I suppose, 
you consider of more weight than all the others ; 
and, of course, unanswerable. Whatever may be 
your opinion on this subject, or that of your 
adherents, it shall not deter me from making the 
attempt. 

Last article: *' What proceeding, then, is left, 
but to turn all our strength and attention inward 
on ourselves, and try what resources are to be found 
within the limits of our mother territory? Let us 
disdain to go a roving," &c. See page 11. 

I should rather like to see than l?ear of the fruits 
of this *' strength and attention turned inward on 
ourselves." It is too much like the rest of your 
theories, to deserve particular notice. Plausible, 
indeed, to the '' imagination and the ear," but 
inapplicable to the purposes for which you would 
apply them. 

You may say, that this is mere assertion without 
proof. Proof you sbail bave, if it be possible for 
the imperfect standard of words to afford it. But 
that I shall give such proof as may mount up to the 
aisindm'doi your pbiiosopby, I have little expecta- 
tion. 

Represent, then, to yourself, a community of 
active and intelligent beings ; accustomed from 
their infancy to enjoy civil liberty in all its pleni- 
tude ;-— to the free intercourse of society of all 



21 

ranks; — to an abundance of all the comforts which 
render human life a blessing; — to the complete 
operation and enjoyment of all those faculties which 
freedom of trade and intercourse, and a lively ex- 
pectation, produce; — to the rich repositories of clas- 
sical literature, arts, science, trade, &c.; — and, 
lastly, though not the least of those comforts enu- 
merated, the intermixture with us of many emi- 
grants of skill and genius, in the ways of life. All 
these taken into consideration, think if it be 
possible to confine such a people within the seques- 
tered walks of domestic life, of philosophical apa- 
thy. You may place Damon by the side of Chloe, and 
Darby by that of Joan; but, depend on it, they will 
play truant for the sake of trade. Oh, Trade ! 
thou rich attribute, and happy pursuit of human 
life ; who art not only able to supply nature with 
the abundance of all climates, but even to decorate 
thy little habitation with beauties not its own. 
By thy influence the ship moves along the ocean to 
the difterent extremities of the earth, and returns 
laden with the rich harvest of every clime. Thou 
diffusest joy in every face that crowds the busy 
street. Thou adornest the pavilion with the metals 
of Peru, and the persons of our fi\ir with the dra- 
peries of India. Inspired by thee, the song goes 
round, wit sparkles, the old crack iheir jokes, 
the exhilarating juice promotes the harmony, aiifl 
all ages leap with joy! 



22 

" If, then, ye are possessed of so many natural 
and obvious blessings, how much may they be im- 
proved, by the accumulated force of genius and in- 
dustry, directed in their proper channels ; to the 
improvement of agriculture, manufactures, ma- 
chinery, mineralogy," &c. 

What encouragement, I would ask, can there be 
to engage moitb vigour in any of those pursuits [and 
without vigour, let me add, there would be no ad- 
vancement] without the hopes or prospect of reward 
by trade ? There could be no sufficient vent for our 
surplus articles among ourselves; and the moment 
that reward ceases to recompense extraordinary ex- 
ertions, that same moment man ceases to be stimu- 
lated to them. It is not in the nature of man to be 
energetic or zealous in any cause, where the hope 
of remuneration is cut oft'. For it this hope that 
actuates him, not only in his worldly pursuits, but 
even, and yet more fervently, in that preparatioa 
and exertion in religious duties, by which he hopes 
to attain immortal happiness. 

What is the use then, of multiplying or accumu- 
lating words on the subject ? It is, according to your 
own hypothesis, a self-evident principle, that all at- 
tempts at refinement, perfectibility, and total inde- 
pendence of one nation on another, are as absurd as 
the same doctrines with respect to neighbours and 
communities. 

Why should we linger, then, and show, by our 
tameness, that we are in very deed debased^ and de- 



23 

generated from the heroic stock from which we 
sprung; that we are become, by the mere influence 
of climate, and love of luxury, a fallen race of mor- 
tals; sunk, by the mere passion of gain, to bear 
every obloquy, and suffer every degradation, could 
we but pursue an illicit trade at all coents ? 

No, sir, I deny the position. For neither shall 
you, nor the children of the stock from whence 
we sprung, nor the Abbe Raynal*, or any other of 
his belief, make me believe any such incongruities. 
We are a people, it is true, who, perhaps, by cli- 
mate, and certainly by civil institutions, and 
education, are inured to the habits and virtues of 
bearing much unreasonableness, and forbearing re- 
taliation. But that w^ are base enough to bear a 
continuation of repeated and unprovoked injury, is 
a mistake. There is a point, sir, in the virtue of 
forbearance, beyond which to endure would be a 
crime. And can that crime be attached to Ame- 
rica ? Let her history answer the question. 

What, then, remains to us (to use nearly the same 
style you did at the conclusion of your argument), 
but to exert all our physical and moral force, and, 
instead of sheltering ourselves under the wisdom 
of philosophical apathy, to show ourselves men — 
men of the same blood, passions, interests, and 



* ** America belittles her productions. — Animals do cfen crate in 
America." 



24 

courage, as those by whom we are degraded- 
men, who, though equally, and perhaps more de- 
termined, because 7nore injured and insulted, ivillnot^ 
nor, I hope, shall not, be guilty of equal injustice. 

The time is come, if ever there was a time, when 
we ought, of necessity, to show whether we do in 
reality possess the metal of action equal to the metal 
of our words. We have long talked, and talked 
again; and even talked as big as emperors. Now 
we ought to act, or we will, in reality, confirm the 
unfavourable opinion they have propagated and be- 
lieved. 

A, It would, my fellow-citizens, be a shameful 
desertion of my subject, to leave it imcleared from 
the plausible, though specious, arguments of B. 
Arguments the more dangerous, because the more 
apt to be believed, having the appetites (and some 
of them of the worst order) of human kind to plead 
in their favour. Must I again repeat it : — we are 
never in such danger of being misled, as when we 
summon such auxiliaries to our aid. We then de- 
grade ourselves from the proud consciousness of 
intellectual beings, and grovel in the errmg mist 
and mire of the passions. 

Of all the mistakes and sources of misery that 
have ever affected, or continue to affect, human 
kind, that of war (no matter for what object) is 
certainly the most direful, wasteful, and pernicious. 
*' If," B^ (to use the divine language of your fa- 



25 

vourite Blair,) " there be any fertile source of mis- 
chief to human life, it is, beyond doubt, the mis- 
rule of passion. It is this which poisons the 
enjoyment of individuals, overturns the order of 
society, and strews the path of life with so many 
miseries, as to render it indeed a vale of tears. 
These have overspread the earth with bloodshed. 
These have pointed the assassin's dagger, and filled 
the poisoned bowl. These, -in every age, have 
furnished too copious materials for the orator's 
pathetic declamation, and for the poet's tragical 
song*." *' When allowed to rage with uncon- 
trolled fury [such as in war], they are more 
than sufficient to blast the little comfort allotted by 
Providence to man." 

I would, therefore, my brethren, advise you to 
give no more weight to the reasonings of my oppo- 
nent, than they justly and fairly deserve : that is, 
to view them through the clear and unbiassed class 
of reason; and give them no credence farther than 
they point to truth, or tend to happiness. Nor 
would I wish my own arguments to be weighed by 
a more favourable standard. 

In the first place: No position can be more 
false than that which he sets out with, couched 
under the form of a paradox, *' Will any assert, 
that commercial men are less lovers of their coun- 
try, than agriculturalists, artists, or mechanics; but 

* Vide Bhlr*s Sermon, on the evils which fiow from unrestrained 
passions. 



26 

demonstrably more beneficial in promoting her 
grandeur and happiness." ** If it be true of them 
respecting the latter," by which he must mean the 
latter part of the sentence, *'it cannot, as a natural 
antecedent, be true respecting the former." 

No such positive antecedent or consequent flows 
from the question. For it may be true of them in 
part^ respecting both sides, and not true in whole. 
According, therefore, to mathematical axiom, a part 
is less than a whole. 

What is the use of varnishing the subject over 
by the eloquence of words, and not striking at once 
at the root of the matter? Words too, ambiguous 
in meaning, and not conclusive of the matter con- 
tended for. How often am /accused hy you of this 
play upon words; of this metaphysical jargon? You 
were not aware, when you used them, that they 
would be retorted on yourself with double interest. 
But the fact is, you wished the public to believe 
they were exclusively the weapons of those who 
make use of my mode of reasoning; and, there- 
fore, you were glad to be beforehand with me, and 
to lay hold on any sort of weapon that might help 
you to win in a bad cause. 

I am too well acquainted with the resort of those 
who throw such terms of reproach in the fair face 
of truth, to be either intimidated by their subter- 
fuges, or arrested in the steady career of right, by 
such paltry artifices. The purest integrity, and 
the soundest philosophy, are often thus beset, by 



27 

the yelping of such superficial critics. They tnay, 
and often do, raise a noise, as shallow waters and 
empty vessels always sound the loudest ; but, far 
from being able to pluck truth up by the root, they 
tend to rivet her more to the centre. 

It would be in vain to answer you article by 
article^ as you pretended in your outset to follow 
me. [How successfully, let the public judge.] I 
will only oppose those parts on \vhich you seem to 
lay the most stress; and afterward take leave of you, 
for " metal more attractive /^^ 

In the second place. *' For who," B, asks, 
" can have stronger motives and connections, to 
implant this amor patria in their minds, than he 
(the merchant) whose pride and profit, and conse- 
quent influence in society, all tend," &c. 

This may be true of some, and false respecting 
others — all the answer such a question requires. 

Again. ** I would be glad to know what the 
aU hazards of A. means!" It means, B,\ exactly 
what the definition of the word conveys ; and nei- 
ther more nor less. But I am willing, for the sake 
of fairness and impartiality, to adopt your amend- 
ment '* all events." And when I have, in pure 
complaisance, done so, the event of a hazardous un- 
dertaking will never alter the means by which it 
was accomplished. For, if the means be inade- 
quate to the undertaking, the event must necessa- 
rily be disastrous. Q. E. D. 

D 



28 

And again. B, triumphs in his own little wits, 
thus : — '' Having now cleared the ground of all the 
rubbish of V) or ds^ that obstruct the passage of truth," 
he ** will enter with more freedom into the pith of 
those arguments, / ham, with metaphysic pride, 
thrown in his way!" 

O, shame! O, shame! where is thy blush? 
Could you not, unhappy^., find a reproach less 
hackneyed than that, in the whole catalogue of re- 
proaches? Metaphysic pride! ! Who is your 
author for such an expression? Beattie*, the 
great champion of the sensime system of truth and 
morals, in answer to some modern philosophers, 
who found theirs on the intellectual system. But if 
the former system be the way to find out ** the na- 
ture and immutability of truth," it must be as mu- 
table as the system on which it is built. But this 
is digressing from the main point: and I only took 
notice of this author, as he stood in my way ; and 
likewise to show the great original of my friend J5.'s 
expression, '' metaphysic pride:'''* an author, who 
(in justice it must be said), though guilty of this 
w^eakness of reproach, must ever be read with 
pleasure and profit, by every lover of religion and 
humanity. 

As to your other reproaches, j5., of crocodile tears ^ 
dung-horse, and such like, they must be left to 
perish unanswered, among the rubbish which con- 

* Beattie, on the Nature and Immutability of Truth, 



29 

tained them. Your scheme of warfare must now 
be noticed, since I have, by the merit of my ^*' phi- 
losophical apathy ^^^ ceased to be irritated by your 
words. And here it shall have a fair hearing. 

*' Every merchant vessel shall be armed with 
men and metal, equal to its bulk ; it would be strange 
if a fleet of, perhaps, seventy ships, with a proper 
convoy, could not be able to force a passage on the 
broad seas; and, if attacked, to defend and pre- 
serve the valuable part of it from capture or destruc- 
tion. Is this scheme ridiculous?" &c. 

If it is not ridiculous, it would be indeed all ha- 
zardy '* without the least probability of success or 
advantage." 

You see my answers are short ; without even the 
rubbish of words to swell them. This cannot be 
metaphysic pride; for it delights to say more than it 
understands. 

No. If your energies are so great, or the cup of 
your sufferings so full, that ye must have war; 
wage war with the wi?ig of the beast, that stands 
in our way: — with our *'good friends," the Cana- 
dians. Leave her mother neither branch nor root 
to nestle here, in North America. Then may ye 
expect to play a game of no hazard : and the ac- 
quisition would be beneficial, at all events. By 
the dint of dollars we have been able to purchase 
the western territory on our borders, and by this 
means secured ourselves from the annoyance of 
restless neighbours. Let us, by dint of arms, achieve 



50 

the territories on the eastern side of our borders; 
and this event will make us safe from the attacks, 
or encroachments, of insidious aud dangerous neigh- 
bours. Would this scheme be ridiculous, or im- 
practicable? Or, " would it be all hazaixl, without 
the least probability of success or advantage?" 
Why, *' my lad," it would secure to you, at once, 
all the fur trade of America. Then teach your 
sons how to manufacture it; and let foreign nations, 
if they should want it desperately^ comt^ and buy it 
of us; or, indeed, any thing besides, that we can 
spare, and they cannot do without. Let us re- 
nounce the carrying trade, at once, rather than be 
embroiled at all hazard battles, on the sea, with 
foreign nations. 

I cannot help recurring, with renovated satisfac 
tion, to a contemplation of the happy millennium, 
w^hich such a line of conduct would, by the bless- 
ing of God, produce, on these quiet and isolated 
shores. Remote as we are, by natural situation, 
from those infatuated countries, where the passions 
rage and roar; and where they are trained, both by 
habit and education, to consider man as a natural 
enemy to his brother; that he must be clad in ar- 
mour to meet his approach; and all the fiends and 
furies at his beck, to ward off his meditated dan- 
ger: — I say, I cannot help thinking it strange, that 
we should ever, since we threw off their yoke, or at 
least so long, have imitated their follies, or put our- 
selves in the power of their vices. That we should 



31 

not before now have seen that " beauty of holi- 
ness," to use a scripture phrase, which our physi- 
cal resources naturally open to us, and disdain to 
go a roving, when so many comforts invite our in- 
dustry at home. 

"But, shall we have no commerce at all? no 
foreign market to carry off our surplus articles, and 
set the wheels of industry a-going?" I tell you, 
ye shall have commerce with all the globe^ and their 
streamers flying in every harbour, if ye would but 
renounce your carrying trade, to them^ who cannot 
do without us. Ye must sell them every thing ye 
can make or spare. But let them come for it, if 
tliey want. Rather let your surplus articles perish, 
than carry them to such ingrates : for, there is no 
"friendship in trade." 

Figure to yourself, then, a nation of people, pos- 
sessing within their grasp the boundaries of a whole 
continent — with all the advantages, local and exter- 
nal, which can belong to the most favoured na- 
tions — with a diversity of soil and climate, capable 
of bringing forth all the necessaries, and, with skill, 
eijery luxury, of life — inhabited, too, by a race of 
people, active, intelligent, and zealous in the cause 
of public good — lovers of their country, of its 
rights, its laws, and liberties ; but enemies to ty- 
ranny, to oppression, and, above all, to foreign 
usurpation and encroachment — magnanimous in 
their public intercourse, but sharp and acute in 
their trade and business — whom you cannot bend 



32 

to mean condescensions, and tame submissions — 
whom it is in vain either to flatter or threaten ; but 
who love to hear their true interest pointed out, and 
to pursue it above all things ; considering it as the 
pearl of just price ^ and superior to all external or 
temporary considerations. 

With such a people; with such physical bless- 
ings annexed to them; with such virtues, princi- 
ples, and prepossessions; and, with such siivorld oi 
rich territory to range in; will you maintain, that 
they have it not in their power to make themselves 
as happy as the lot of mortality can admit ? — You 
cannot in reason, though you may by the dint of 
sophistication. Let us examine in reason, then, 
how this happy work can be begun, directed, and 
accomplished. 

Why it has already begun*, in many parts of the 
union, during the necessity which the late embargo 
imposed. But your clamours and fears raised a 
hue and cry against it, sufiicient to chill every ac- 
tive principle (in any but patriotic and determined 
minds), that it did not spread so wide as it would 
otherwise have done, had no opposition been made. 
Now, when the same necessity recurs, in a tenfold 
ratio; and with the unanimity and reconcilement 
of almost all parties to this necessity, knowing that 
nothing can remove it but superior strength and 
power, and as that power does not yet appear to be 

■ Dojuestic manufactures. 






in our possession, considering our infant state ; 
Avhy should we attempt things evidently beyond 
our strength ? Better to submit with a good grace 
to our ample situation. 

Now, as we know the happy work to be hegun^ 
and prospering in many places, and that all oppo- 
sition to it only recoils on our own heads; there 
will be little fear of its proper direction^ considering 
the number of skilful emigrants and citizens, bred 
to, and acquainted with, such operations in all their 
varieties. We may only rest upon and enjoy the 
prospect of its accomplishment ; as it relates to a 
unique design and coincidence of all other parts of 
industry and improvement. 

And here will open a field for the patriot and 
philanthrophist to contemplate with no common 
degree of rapture and enthusiasm; considering it 
as the consummation and practical application of 
all those sublime theories, which he has, by fre- 
quent and mortifying disappointments, been com- 
pelled to distrust the practicability; and to consi- 
der as things suitable only for philosophers, but not 
for the generality of mankind. 

We may place, then, Palemon by the side of La- 
vinia, with perfect safety; and the manufacturer by 
that of the husbandman; — 



" When tyrant custom shall not shackle man. 
Bat free to follow nature is the mode." 



34 

Would not such a plan be reviving those Arca- 
dian scenes, so much talked of by poets and philo- 
sophers? Or would it not rather be the beginning 
of that millennium, predicted in the Bible, and ex- 
pected by the Christian? Let no man say that these 
schemes are Utopian. Allowing them to be im- 
practicable in their full extent, he is certainly a 
greater benefactor of mankind, who holds up the 
dignity, and encreasing perfectibility, of human na- 
ture, than he who groans out the dismal ditty of his 
depravity and unteachableness. 

B, says, in the height of his rapturous invoca- 
tion to trade, *' that the sparkling juice shall pro- 
mote the harmony (by which he must mean the 
general giddiness which luxury produces); and all 
ages leap with joy!" 

This sparkling juice of ^.'s (under which deno- 
mination he must include spirituous liquors, as there 
would be very few of any age who would leap with 
the joy of the pure sparkling juice, being above 
their reach) brings me naturally to speak of that 
sort of joy and sorrow, which the too free use of 
those pernicious liquids has produced for a consi- 
derable time, in this country. 

Has not the too free use of them pervaded all 
ranks and conditions in society, and among many 
of the brightest ornaments of each, produced the 
most fatal and tragical effects ? We are not easily 
moved by the misery or wretchedness of that class 



35 

of drunkards, who are brutal in their natures, beast- 
ly in their appetites, and perversely cruel and im- 
provident towards themselves. Their wives, and 
innocent offspring, do, indeed, move our pity and 
commiseration; and it is our duty to relieve them. 
But, when we behold a man, whom God and na- 
ture have combined to mark out for usefulness; on 
whose piercing eye sits observation; whose well- 
framed mind, whose manly readiness of knowledge, 
whose quick sensibility of right and wrong, whose 
willingness to oblige, and be obliged; and, in fine, 
whose whole moral and physical qualities (bating 
but this 'Dice) point him out as a man formed to be 
a benefactor of his species : yet, perhaps, to see all 
these shining and useful qualities blasted in the 
bud ; or taking an eccentric course, and dazzling 
without being useful; or, even when useful, in 
some degree, not surely to their possessor, but sub- 
jecting him to continued disappointments, mortifi- 
cations, and misfortunes, sufficient to make him 
nauseate his existence : what man can behold 
such a luminary, thus eclipsed, thus setting under 
the horizon of forgetfulness, and, perhaps, of in- 
famy, of horror, of remorse of conscience, and not 
drop a tear of sorrow at his untimely end! 

I shall now take leave of you, B,, and the votaries 
of your exhilarating juice, with all my heart. We 
would wish no such joy, as is produced by it, to 
promote the harmony of our republic. We shall 
have juice, it is true, pressed from the pith of our 

F; 



I 



36 f 

apples or grapes, or made from our malt. But we 
would wish no distillation, or chymical poison, to 
real- its serpent tongue, or hiss in the glass of our 
citizens. No. Harmony proceeding from brother- 
ly love, a union of interest, and a noble emulation 
for our country's good, shall exhilarate and expand 
our hearts and affections, superior to all modes of 
joy, which the most inventive luxury can pro- 
duce. 



FINIS. 



ERRATA. 

Page 4, line 7, for that are, read that they are* 
Page 6, line 15, fov love, read laws. 



I 



